Guest Lecture - Dr.Sokolov - Department of Sociology and Anthropology

As a part of "Culture and Society" lecture series, Sociology and Anthropology Department is pleased to invite you to a guest Lecture by Dr. Mikhail Sokolov!

Topic: "Displays of Cultural Capital among Younger Russian Urban Professionals: A Study of an Expression Game in Everyday Life"

About the speaker. Mikhail Sokolov is an Associate Professor at Nazarbayev University. His interests include the history and sociology of social sciences, consumption and artistic tastes, organizational analysis of higher education institutions, scientometrics, science policy analysis, and comparative social stratification. His current theoretical work develops Erving Goffman’s ideas on face, fatefulness, and expression games in light of recent research in epistemic game theory and pragmatics.

Abstract. This paper makes two contributions. First, it seeks to fill a significant gap in the cultural consumption literature; second, it aims to illustrate how Erving Goffman’s expression game perspective – an extension of his famous “impression management” framework – can be used to account for processes of class reproduction in modern societies. Bourdieu argued that the fundamental state of cultural capital, used by elite groups as a deposit of their advantages, is an embodied state. However, embodied cultural capital remains invisible unless it is displayed in social interactions. This paper employs interviews and observational data to analyze how one’s cultural capital is demonstrated to others in everyday life. The art of display involves creating a convincing impression that individuals have genuinely enjoyed legitimate culture throughout their life course, rather than pretending to do so due to external pressures or for social gains. Such an impression must be made without leaving visible traces of its intention. The tactics employed to achieve this objective help explain phenomena such as understatement, cultural omnivorousness, and other secular changes in elite tastes and styles.

Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your research workflow.